So This is How it Ends
2008-07-14 01:11:33
By:
Gene Bromberg
There won't be another World Championship for Phill Hellmuth in 2008. No membership in the elite November Nine who will play for the Main Event title, no twelfth bracelet. Phil ended up going out in 45th place when his Ace-Queen lost a race against pocket Jacks. That's how so many players see their tournament lives come to an end, in a coin flip situation, and it hurts all the more when it happens deep in the Main Event.
Phil was in the news as play concluded last night, as he was given a 9-hand penalty for a tirade against Cristian Dragomir at the ESPN TV table. That would've hurt as missing that orbit would've cost Phil about 10% of his stack. But overnight WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and Tournament Director Jack Effel met with Phil and the penalty was overturned. They released an official statement, which said this:
This morning Phil Hellmuth met with Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director, Howard Greenbaum, Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming, and Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. Based on that meeting and an official review of the situation, it was decided that the penalty imposed on Mr. Hellmuth at the conclusion of play last night was excessive.
"Warnings and penalties are intended to correct inappropriate behavior and our rulings should be as fair as possible, given the circumstances," said Pollack. "In this instance, the punishment did not fit the crime."
"Phil has now been warned and put on notice in a way that he never has been," Pollack added.
It's never easy to walk away when you've been knocked out of a poker tournament--getting up and leaving the table when you're deep in the Main Event has to be a killer. Even if you're Phil Hellmuth. It means the World Series of Poker is over for another year. And that's a feeling every poker player has to endure. Except for the one who ends up as the World Champion.
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